Techtite.com game reviews: Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb!

There's a lot to love about Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Made by the same guys who gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the X-box last year, I'd dare say its original version was made for the X-box. This means no "port" nonsense. It also means Indy, like all native X-Box title characters, never looked better. Best of all, you get to BE Indiana Jones. What more could you want? Well, aside from the ability to save games within a game level, there's barely a single gripe. Simply put, this is a swell game.

The story is set in 1935, setting Indy in a kind of "prequel" to the films. It's six years before America would enter WW2, yet Nazis are as annoying as ever. A Chinese businessman arrives to Indiana's college office, to ask for his help to keep a priceless jewel of legendary power, "The Eye of the Dragon," away from Nazi hands. This journey will take you to many locales, including Istanbul, Prague, and various areas of China itself, to obtain the jewel before the bad guys do. However, is a seedy Nazi general the only bad guy you need to be afraid of...?

While it's easy to shrug off this game as just yet another Tomb Raider clone, there are enhancements to the formulae worth noticing. For one, while Indy can find a gun and shoot, he can use his fists as well...and nearly anything else he can grab. Anything not nailed down in a fight can be used, including chairs (!), wine bottles, and table legs. This is in addition to Indy's whip, which can be used to both swing to nearby ledges via branches and overhead beams, and in a fight, can even disarm your opponent. Top this off with some nice stealth tactics (some Nazis can even be pushed off a ledge when they're not looking), and you have one whale of a good fighting interface; this game's crowning achievement.

The bad news, for Indy...? Enemy AI is exceptional, so they run for the same objects to fight you with! These are some of the best computer-controlled adversaries I ever fought in a game of this type. If they are near a stone column they will use it to hide. If you drop your weapon, they'll take it! If you're heading for a machine gun whose hidden location you read about in a walkthrough; run quickly, because they'll head for it, too! This is already in addition to the aforementioned ability to grab nearby chairs, table legs and broken bottles for a fight. These are some worthy opponents that make this action-adventure all the more challenging and worthwhile.

As for the game levels themselves, they are often quite small --fortunately-- due to the game's one flaw: there is no way to save your game within a level. For X-box owners who yearn to use their built-in hard drive at every turn, this is a disappointment, though not so major a flaw that you won't solve the game in a week or two. Levels are divided into areas of up to three possible puzzles, with maybe a dozen enemies each (though less in earlier levels). This reaches fruition in the near-to-last level, where you must solve a gauntlet of puzzles in the Emperor's Tomb, to reach the grand prize. This includes a lot of quick timing, puzzle solving and mapping in your head, which should appeal to everyone yearning for something more than a mere brainless "shoot at everything until you die" FPS. On the most part, I found the levels very well thought out, with just the right amount of brain power required. The lackluster save game feature was barely noticeable here.

There was one exception, though, that's worth mentioning here. Just prior to the last levels, you're being chased by the second-worst Big Bad Guy and you must jump, run, and dodge obstacles to get away. Suffice to say: there's too much of an "instant death" factor in a level of this type, for it to be any fun. If you fall you die. If you jump too soon you die. If your whip doesn't reach any of over 15 posts (no joke) you must swing from along the way, you die. If the enemy catches up to you, you die. It deserves saying that I solved this level --eventually-- in as little as two hours. However, it was a very bothersome two hours. Mind you, the rest of the game was a thrill. It's a shame this one level had to mar that thrill, even if just for those two hours. The game is practically flawless without it.

Another gripe is the common factor of action-adventure games, in that once it's over its over. There are no secret levels to find, no "hidden costumes" for Indy, and while there are "hidden artifacts," they lead to no major rewards if you hunt for them. In the Windows-PC game Indiana Jones and The infernal Machine, finding enough secrets allowed you to sell those trinkets and buy a map to a bonus level, which could be played (purchased) at any time in the game. In Emperor's Tomb, there are literally dozens of secret artifacts to find, though what is your reward for finding them all? A sketchbook/photo gallery, and that's it...darn! One cute idea for the future: forget the photo gallery, and have a behind-the-scenes video of how the game was made. That would be cool.

Overall, however, this was a fun game. Levels are not exactly linear, though not so cryptic that you'll need the official manual to play the game at all (I've experienced many Tomb Raider levels which were the exact opposite). The storyline blends with the chosen levels smoothly, explaining the how and why to Indy's actions nicely enough. Indy also talks to you in the game, offering hints of what's going on ("The power's off...I have to find that generator") so you're not completely lost. Of course, these pluses are just icing on the cake in a game whose biggest sales factor are those cool fist fights! After hitting a Nazi on a head with a dining room chair, you'll never want to go back to a mere six-shooter ever again.

However, these are minor gripes for what is indeed a very fun and enjoyable game. It also has a cute ending, where once again Indy gets the girl, if not the artifact per se. PC owners may have a few minor added gripes because in their case, not being able to save your game is practically against a "law" all PC programmers must abide to. X-box owners should be more than used to such "console-itis" in games to worry about this flaw as much. In the end, all Indy fans should be more than thrilled.

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. It will probably be another half-decade before we see Indy again on the silver screen; being able to play as him is even better.
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Indiana Jones and the

Emperor's Tomb

A Techtite Review